


what comes after the flood?

by afrocurl



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Inspired by Fanart, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 09:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Assignments are always important, but how does one handle one of them with Hollywood's new and up-and-coming power copy? Kitty's not sure she wants to find out as she walks into a British pub...</p>
            </blockquote>





	what comes after the flood?

**Author's Note:**

> This sort of follows [Graymalkin Lane](http://archiveofourown.org/works/769779), but you can read it without that one.
> 
> Also written for my "royalty" square on my trope-bingo mini card. Because let's subvert more tropes!

There were plenty of days when Kitty absolutely hated working for EW - with the hours needing to focus on getting stories out quickly and still having to manage some level of quality - but then when she was tasked with writing up longer follow-up pieces for some of their usual Top 100 lists, the job wasn’t so bad.

Case in point, she had another three minutes before she needed to leave the office and catch Charles Xavier at this little British bar, The Blue Boar, on Cahuenga. Hopefully his placement as number 9 on the Sexiest Men of 2012 was a good thing; it was never easy to tell how Xavier’s husband, actor-turned-director Erik Lehnsherr, would take news like this.

For all intents and purposes now, after the success of _Graymalkin Lane_ , Lehnsherr and Xavier were part of the new and upcoming “royals” of Hollywood. The show had been the first time they had worked together, she knew, but it was not the last by any stretch.

That just reminded her to actually ask Xavier about the new project that Lehnsherr was directing and co-starring in - _Days of Future Past_. All the buzz so far had said that it was a gritty noir sci-fi piece, in a similar vein to _Blade Runner_ , but totally different. Less androids, more pleasure trafficking.

She jotted down a few more notes in her Moleskin before picking up her recorder and leaving the office.

*

For May in Los Angeles, the weather was far too warm - even for most of the city’s standards - and she walked into The Blue Boar panting, her shirt sticking to her skin awkwardly from her mad dash to arrive just a bit early. Hopefully she had a few minutes to settle down into the back corner before Xavier arrived. As she pushed through the doors, she stared straight at Lehnsherr and Xavier, sitting at the bar, each with a drink in their hands.

Her hands shook a little, but she at least tried to pat herself back into some kind of order before walking towards them. “Excuse me, Mr. Xavier, I’m sorry to be late, but if you and Mr. Lehnsherr don’t mind, the pub gave us the corner over there for the interview.” She pointed towards the back, to a nook by the stairs, dark but inviting.

“Splendid, Ms. Pryde. We’ll join you in a moment; tab to settle, you know.” Xavier's voice was even posher and more inviting in person than it had been in all of the interviews she'd been watching to prepare for this interview.

Quickly, she made her way to the table and set herself up, trying to look as professional as possible after the walk in the too-early heat. Her recorder and Moleskin were out when Lehnsherr and Xavier walked over with their drinks and a large glass of water.

“For you,” Lehnsherr said as he took the seat so that his back faced the door.

“Thanks. Do you both want to order something before we start?”

“No, Kitty, this is fine. We had lunch just before this anyway at the studio. Prep work before we get started on _Days of Future Past_.”

She nodded before taking a slow sip of water. “So, why don’t we start there and go backwards. How does it feel to work together on opposite sides of the camera?”

Xavier laughed and reached for Lehnsherr's hand. “It hasn’t been much different yet, but I don’t think it’ll be any different from _Graymalkin Lane_. We’re just not in scenes together. Erik?”

Lehnsherr looked like he wanted to hide, but spoke up soon enough. “Charles is an easy actor to work with, and we’ve been spending more time like this - with me directing and Charles acting - for a few years since _Graymalkin_ went off the air. It’s different, but not difficult.”

Kitty nodded and tried to work her way into what her boss had told her to focus on. “Could you tell me a little bit about _Graymalkin Lane_? How successfully it started, and then how it began to - decline, a few seasons later?”

The couple shared a look before Xavier replied. “Sebastian Shaw was a genius for the initial idea, but after the first season, it was hard to maintain that level of careful schadenfreude when that was expected of the show. He could be a very demanding show runner, but we had a wonderful time with the cast. We’re still very close to Moira MacTaggart, as you’ll see from her casting as the female lead in _Days of Future Past_. I’d love to see Azazel again, and Angel too, but they’ve both moved to New York. They're doing theater now.”

“So you’re still keen to work with them all?”

Lehnsherr answered this time. “We love them all and if it were possible, I’d have cast the whole bunch in this new movie. Emma Frost’s been a wonderful producing talent these last few years and well, that’s the nature of the business.”

Kitty let herself be lured into the answer before she got to the other crux of this extended piece. “Do the two of you have any reactions to being named one of the new power couples here in Hollywood? Are you ready to take over the world?”

They laughed heartily, long and loud and echoing off the walls, before they could glance at each other and answer. "Maybe we will, maybe we won't - take over the world, I mean," Xavier said.

"We're taking it one day at a time," Lehnsherr said.


End file.
